Old Friend
by Rainbowscape
Summary: Beka gets a surprise that requires Harper to do a little bit of explaining.


**DISCLAIMER:**_ This story is based upon the television show Gene Roddenberry's Andromeda owned by Tribune Entertainment. It is not affiliated with any of the above. It is created for free entertainment only and no copyright infringement is intended._

**A/N:** _This is just a short story that came to mind, while I was writing Almost Human. I took it away, but decided to post it again. Beka stories are the best!:) I'm posting fics again. See my profile to find out more.  
_

**OLD FRIEND**

By Leah

The lights were on in the cockpit but Beka Valentine of the _Eureka Maru_, returning from her shift onboard _Andromeda_, was quite certain she'd turned them to dim before leaving. Her surprise was excessive when she realized that the lights must have been activated by the stranger sitting in, of all places, her pilot's chair.

"_Maru!_ What's up, old gal? " Beka gasped, drawing her force lance and training it on the back of the stranger in the pilot's seat. "Why didn't you warn me there were intruders on board?" Then, Beka barked. "Turn around slowly, stranger, and keep your hands where I can I see them!"

The stranger turned to look up at Beka and smiled. It was a young woman with straight, shoulder-length red hair and brown eyes. She did not seem in the least frightened nor surprised by the force lance in Beka's hands. "Take my word for it," the redheaded woman replied. "There aren't any intruders on board and I'm no stranger, captain."

Beka's blue eyes narrowed. "Get out of my chair. Any one who comes aboard the _Maru_ without my consent…"

"Risks the wrath of a Valentine. And no one wants to witness that. Don't you know me, captain?" The woman rose to her feet, turned to face Beka, and stood at attention.

Surprised that the strange woman had hijacked her sentence and finished the thought correctly, Beka cocked her head and half lowered the force lance. The Andromeda's crew had grown considerably in size since the New Commonwealth had taken effect, but Beka was certain she did not remember this woman. Yet, there was something oddly familiar about her. What was it? "I don't care who you are," Beka replied, irritated that she couldn't latch onto the evasive memory. "You are not to be aboard the _Eureka Maru_ without my express permission or those of the senior staff. What were you doing there?"

The redhead shrugged. Her brown eyes twinkled with amusement. "Harper said it would do me good to get a human perspective."

"Harper?" asked Beka. She tucked her force lance away in her belt. With a larger crew, there was less for _Andromeda's_ engineer to do, so he'd been devoting his free time to his inventive hobbies. Beka had a rising suspicion that this was somehow related to one of them. She frowned. "Did you say 'human perspective,' you mean, you're not--"

The woman's cheeks dimpled as she grinned. "That's right. And I think you do care who I am. Since you don't recognize me, captain, allow me to introduce myself. I'm ship's avatar of the _Eureka Maru_."

If Beka's jaw had been capable of dropping to the floor, it would have. Instead, she choked out a "What?" and immediately contacted that wayward engineer over the comm. "Seamus Harper! Get your butt down to the _Maru_ now!"

"Sure thing, boss," Harper's voice replied over the communicator. He gave evidence of having detected the irritation in her voice. "Um, you don't want to give me a hint what's this about, huh?" When there was no reply, he sighed. "On my way, boss!"

Beka stared at the redhead with wonder. "Are you really who you say you are?"

The avatar nodded. "I am happy to say I am, captain. You've been talking to me for years and I never before had the ability to answer you back. Not the way I wanted to."

Beka shook her head. "Wait. Slow down. How in the world did…the _Maru's_ AI never. It was only. It. You."

"I had a male voice and I lacked much personality, didn't I?"

"Yes," said Beka, faintly.

A clanking noise sounded the arrival of Harper.

"Seamus! What have you done?"

Harper looked at the avatar and then at Beka. "Um, surprise, boss!" Harper raised his eyebrows at the avatar. "You were supposed to stay out of sight."

The avatar shrugged. "You were going to have to introduce me sooner or later."

"Yeah, but a little more prep was required for the surprise."

Beka walked over to Harper and pulled on his collar. "Harper a surprise is getting me a free meal credit at Cavanaugh's. This is entirely something else. Why would you do this? How did you do this?"

"Actually it was just some research of my own. Cause, you know, with all the new staff around it get kinds of boring at times. There aren't as many challenges as there used to be. I was getting nuts for something to do."

"Then, why didn't you build yourself a new laser rocket? Why this?"

Harper shrugged lightly. "I wanted to make new friends...but still keep the old."

Beka glared.

Harper held up his hands. "I wanted a challenge. It was only a theory I had. And you said I could upgrade any of the _Maru's_ systems anytime."

"Yes, but the AI!" Beka stopped in the middle of her speech and looked over at the _Maru_ avatar who was watching them intently. "Would you excuse us please?"

There was a troubled expression in the avatar's brown eyes, but she nodded. "Yes, captain."

"So what do you want me to do, boss?" Harper asked, softly. "Shut her down?"

Beka glowered. "First, I want you to promise me you will never, ever pull a stunt like this again."

Harper raised his right hand in agreement. "Honest to goodness."

Beka glanced over at the avatar. She whispered to Harper. "My ship never needed an avatar before…what made you of think of it."

"Duh," said Harper. "Rommie turned out okay."

"Yes, but High Guard ship's are designed to have avatars. How did you make the _Maru_ one?"

"I took the primitive AI and added a bit more intelligence into the artificial, incorporating all the data records and sensor log's and such. Basically, the summation of information of the _Eureka Maru_ is coursing through the avatar's matrix."

Beka raised her eyebrows. "That means she knows everything. How could she know everything Harper? You don't even know all that! Some of the information is encrypted and only accessible by my personal access codes."

"Access codes that the _Eureka Maru_ knows and she is, for all intents and purposes, the _Eureka Maru_ in the flesh. And quite a piece of handiwork if I do so say myself."

Beka slapped Harper lightly and said, "Keep your hands off my ship." Beka crossed her arms. "What were you doing before I called you?"

"Rommie was complaining about a buzzing in the--"

Beka waved Harper away. "Go on, get back to work."

Harper nodded and departed.

Beka looked around. The avatar must have taken herself to another part of the ship. That was fine for Beka. She remembered her original reason for coming into the cockpit and knelt down by a panel. She pried it off and lay down on the floor to study the wiring.

Footsteps clanged suddenly. Beka didn't look up from her work.

"Captain." It was the new avatar's voice.

Beka frowned. "Hold on a moment. You keep saying captain this and captain that. Not once have you called me Beka. I keep thinking you're talking to Dylan."

"You are my captain."

"Yes. And, as your captain, I'm ordering you to call me, Beka. Is that clear?"

"Yes, Beka." A pause. "I wanted to tell you something."

"What?"

"I am very sorry about how shocking this was for you. I wanted you to know that I've asked Harper to disassemble me."

Beka bumped her head on the panel above it. "You did what?"

"I didn't know my…my appearance in this form would upset you so much. If it weren't for you I'd probably be a junked by now. But you've been wonderful and as much damage as I've taken, you've always been willing to repair me. Whatever the cost. So I can at least do this much for you."

Beka came out from under the panel. "Wait a minute! Like you said, I never let anyone junk the _Eureka Maru_. So, what makes you think that I want to junk you?"

"You told Harper…"

"I know what I told Harper. And now I'm going to tell Harper he's not to get anywhere near you unless he's planning on doing some serious repairs."

"Then…I can stay?"

"You're here, aren't you…um…What do I call you?"

"What do you want to call me?"

"_Eureka Maru_ suits me just fine…but it isn't really a personal name."

"I get you. So, what then? Em?"

Beka laughed. "Em?" Images of Harper chanting, "Auntie Em! Auntie Em!" quickly dispelled any chances that name might have had. Beka shook her head. "That won't quite do. What sorta of name would you like to be called?"

"I can have a full name, can't I?"

Beka nodded. "Sure."

"Rommie has a really fancy name, but I'd like something simpler. I'm a simpler ship. I don't need to have the same name as a galaxy."

An idea flickered through Beka's eyes. "How 'bout Eurey?"

The avatar grinned. "Eurey. Like Eureka. It sounds alright, but…"

Beka looked at her alertly. "But what?"

"So does Reka."

"Reka?" Beka tested the name on her tongue. "It sounds rather familiar. What about Maru or Mari?"

The red head shook affirmatively. "That suits me just fine."

"But you wanted a full name, didn't you?" Beka walked up to her and offered a handshake. "Welcome to the universe, Mari Valentine."

A delighted smile lit Mari's face. "Thank you, I shall strive to live up to the name."

"As much as we bicker, fight, and try to outwit each other, us Valentines do stick together." Beka smiled back at the avatar. "So," Beka began a new conversation. "Just _how much _do you know about _me_?"

Mari simply grinned.


End file.
